Two Taliban suicide bombers struck near a U.S. base in Kabul early Wednesday, killing two Afghan guards in the heart of a neighborhood filled with foreign forces and embassies. The attack came despite increased security ahead of a Muslim holy day that last year saw one the capital's deadliest attacks.

The bombers apparently meant to target the American base but were spotted by security guards as they approached on foot. The guards fired on the assailants, killing them, but not before one of the vests exploded, said Gen. Mohammad Daoud Amin, the deputy provincial police chief.

Two Afghan security guards were killed and five civilians were wounded in the morning explosion, he said.

[Tolo News] A big shot of the Haqqani network was captured with two other suspected bully boyz in a joint Afghan and Isaf operation in eastern Khost province... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... on Tuesday, Isaf said in a statement.

The leader is believed to have facilitated the movement of bully boyz and directed the placing of improvised bombs (IEDs), the statement said.

A second Haqqani leader was tossed in the clinkPlease don't kill me! in eastern Pashtun-infested Logar province in a joint operation on Tuesday, alleged to have organised the transfer of weapons to myrmidon fighters throughout the province, Isaf said.

Meanwhile in southern Kandahar province, a weapons controller for the Taliban was arrested, alleged to have supplied weapons, ammunition and IEDs to bully boyz throughout Kandahar.

Also on Monday, at least four bully boyz were killed by a joint security force in eastern Ghazni province, Isaf said in the statement.

It claimed that the security force saw the armed bully boyz firing several heavy weapons toward Khugyani district center and the military killed them in response, it said.

An myrmidon was also killed in a joint operation in eastern NangarharThe unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province on Tuesday, it added.

[Tolo News] Three men were placed in durance vileMaw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! Monday as suspects in the planning of an attack on a government gathering in western Herat,...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... local officials said Monday.

Two of the men were while dressed up like girls and armed with non-lethal weapons while they were trying to attack the guards protecting the government officials at a gathering in Herat's Local Governance Department compound, Herat's acting police chief Abdul Hamid Hamidi said.

Another person was riding a cycle of violence carrying the fey attackers.

"Two people named Farid and Sayed Omid were riding a cycle of violence driven by Abdul Ghafoor and were trying to enter the Hall equipped with non-lethal weapons and anesthesia materials," Hamidi said.

However,facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... some officials believe that the women-clothed detainees were trying to deceive teenagers and there was no real proof that they intended to attack the government gathering.

This comes on the same day that a motorbike kaboom near a border police check point in Herat's Islam Qala district injured three people including a doctor and an Iranian official.

[An Nahar] Dozens of people have been killed in festivities between Islamic Islamic fascistiand secular Tuareg fighters in northern Mali since Friday, witnesses and officials said.

"It's a real massacre, there are dozens dead," said a Malian security source, referring to the fighting in the region of Gao. Witnesses on the ground confirmed the scale of the festivities.

The fighting between Islamist group the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which is backed by al-Qaeda's north African branch, and the ethnic Tuareg separatists of the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) has been concentrated around the town of Menaka, near the border with Niger.

"There needs to be a genuine international investigation to find out what happened at Menaka," said the Malian security source, adding that dead bodies "could still be seen in the town".

A politician for the Menaka district, Bajan Ag Hamato, said some of his fellow Tuareg had been killed "defending the town against MUJAO", including local political leader Alwabegat Ag Salakatou and six of his entourage.

"They were labeled MNLA, but in reality they were local patriots who wanted to defend their town," he said.

The MNLA has said its fighters killed 65 fighters from MUJAO and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) during the fighting, suffering just one death and 13 injuries on its side.

MUJAO for its part has said it killed more than 100 MNLA fighters and took 20 prisoners.

Mali, once considered one of west Africa's most stable democracies, was plunged into chaos by a March 22 coup that created a power vacuum and enabled rebels to seize control of the country's north.

But the Islamists quickly sidelined the more secular Tuareg fighters and have set about imposing strict Islamic law in the north, stoning an unmarried couple to death and amputating feet and hands from suspected thieves.

KINSHASA, DRC -- The rebel group M23 has entered the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... continuing their advance against government and United Nations...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... troops. The rebels say they have taken the airport and witnesses say they are near the city center.

After days of fighting, M23 rebels have succeeded in their drive against the Congolese army and U.N. peacekeepers and advanced into the capital of North Kivu province. While the exact situation in Goma is fluid, all accounts say that the rebels are gaining ground.

M23 making advances

Some residents and several journalists confirm M23's claim to have taken the airport, on the eastern side of the town. Journalists say the rebels also have captured one of the two main border crossings from Goma to Rwanda, also on the eastern side of town.

Congo analyst Thierry Vircoulon of the International Crisis Group said the situation is taking a dire turn for the worse.

"My feeling is that the city is about to fall and we'll know that during the course of the day, that's for sure," said Vircoulon. "And there have been exchanges of fire between Rwanda and the DRC, which means we may not be very far from an open conflict between the two countries."

U.N. radio in the DRC, Radio Okapi, reports that mortar rounds apparently fired from Rwanda killed four people Monday in Goma and maimed several others.

DRC government accuses Rwanda

Tuesday's fighting comes after the government refused a rebel demand to negotiate, saying it would be pointless without involving Rwanda. The DRC accuses of Rwanda of providing arms and troops in support of M23 - allegations that Kigali continually has denied.

There are signs the escalating violence is causing problems for the Congolese government.No! Reeeeeally?
A leading opposition politician, Vital Kamehre - who came third in the presidential elections last year - has called on DRC President Joseph Kabila to negotiate with M23 to end the conflict and threats to the civilian population.

Opposition calls for negotiations

Up until now, the DRC's opposition parties generally have agreed with the government's position of rejecting talks with the rebels.

Goma was effectively controlled by a rebel movement until 2004, when the rebels were loosely integrated into the Congolese army. Most members of M32 are former soldiers who defected in April, claiming discrimination and poor treatment by the government.

The DRC and Rwanda have fought several wars - the last one during the Congolese civil war, which ended in 2003.

International concern is growing, with La Belle France preparing a draft resolution to slap sanctions on the rebels and possibly any elements supporting them. It could be adopted as early as this week.

[Bangla Daily Star] As many as 67 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... a Pakistani catspaw remaining active in Bangla politix, loosely affiliated with the Pak religious party of the same name and closely affiliated with most of the terror organizations in Bangla. A member of the BNP's four party governing coalition.... and Islami Chhatra Shibir... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... have been tossed in the clinkInto the paddy wagon wit' yez! on charges of vandalism and attacking police in Narayanganj, Chittagong, Gaibandha and Rajshahi in the last two days.

In Narayanganj, police arrested 52 of them in an overnight drive.

The arrests were made after Sub-Inspector Atiar Rahman of Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station filed two cases on Monday night on charges of attacking law enforcers and setting fire to a police van that day.

Among the arrestees were Jamaat district Ameer Maulana Mainuddin, its Finance Secretary Jubaid and Rupganj upazila unit Shibir President Mohammad Ali.

Narayanganj police yesterday closed Sub-Inspector Noor Mohammad of the same cop shoppe for negligence of duty during Monday's violence, said Sheikh Nazmul Alam, district superintendent of police.

Shibir activists vandalised at least five vehicles that day, leaving 10 people injured.

In Chittagong city, a court sent 13 Shibir activists to jail in connection with vandalism across the port city on Sunday.

Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Md Hasanul Islam passed the order yesterday when the arrestees were produced before the court, said court sources.

In Gaibandha, Police arrested Jamaat's District Organizing Secretary Nazrul Islam Lebu, also Jamaat-nominated candidate for Gaibandha-3 in the last three elections, yesterday morning at his Palashbari residence on charges of obstructing the work of the police.

In Rajshahi, law enforcers along with the Rajshahi University authorities raided the university's Shaheed Shamsuzzoha Hall yesterday evening and arrested masters student Anwar Hossain of the Arabic department.

The hall's Provost Dr Mostafa Sharif Anwar said they called the police after getting information about Shibir men planning to gather in the hall for a secret meeting.

Officer-in-Charge Sanaul Haque of Motihar Police Station said they arrested Anwar, suspecting that he was a Shibir activist. Police made the arrest after conducting an hour-long raid in the hall.

Mexican Army units in ongoing counternarcotics operations since November 8th have seized 5,932.807 kilograms of marijuana, 10.5026 kilograms of poppy seeds, 4.6 kilograms of marijuana seeds, 1.66 kilograms of cocaine, MX $62,820.00 (USD $4,818.45) in cash, USD $320.00 (MX $4171.97) in cash, according to official government sources.

A Mexican Army unit with the 45th Military Zone seized a large quantity of marijuana in Sonora state November 7th. The unit was dispatched to Nuevo Nogales colony in Nogales municipality on an anonymous complaint and seized 642 kilograms of marijuana packaged in 60 packages. Three unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.

An army road patrol with the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized more than one metric ton of marijuana in Tamaulipas state November 9th. The unit was on patrol near the village of Valadeces in Reynosa municipality when soldiers seized the drugs. A total of 1,015.007 kilograms of marijuana were seized along with a tractor trailer rig. Two unidentified individuals were detained at the scene.

A joint police patrol with an element of the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized drugs, munitions and other contraband in a raid in Tamaulipas state November 9th. The joint operation seized 250 kilograms of marijuana, 25 rifles, 144 weapons magazines, 5,300 rounds of ammunition, MX $53,500.00 (USD $4,103.58) in cash, tactical and communication gear, and two vehicles.

An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized drugs and weapons in a raid in Coahuila state November 9th. The unit had been dispatched to Francisco I. Madero municipality based on an anonymous complaint. Soldiers seized personal quantities of marijuana and cocaine, four rifles, 18 weapons magazine, 399 rounds of ammunition, 14 stars used for puncturing automobile tires colloquially known as ponchallantas, and one stolen vehicle.

A Mexican Army unit with the 37th Military Zone seized a quantity of cocaine and weapons in Mexico state November 9th. The army unit had been dispatched to Heroes de Tecamac colony of Tecamac municipality based on an anonymous complaint. Several suspects fled the scene when they observed the arriving military patrol, leaving contraband behind. Seized contraband included 17 bags of cocaine totalling of 1.66 kilograms, three rifles, two weapons magazines and 243 rounds of ammunition.

An army unit with the Mexican 8th Military Zone seized more than two metric tons of marijuana in Tamaulipas state November 9th. The military unit was on patrol in El Mirador colony in Ciudad Miguel Aleman municipality when it rolled up on an abandoned residence. Inside soldiers found 2.021.9 kilograms of marijuana.

A Mexican Army unit with the 7th Military Zone seized quantities of drugs, guns and cash at a traffic stop in Nuevo Leon state November 8th. Soldiers seized personal quantities of marijuana and crystal methamphetamine, eight radios, MX $7,400.00 (USD $567.60), miscellaneous contraband and one vehicle. Thee unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.

An army unit with the Mexican 7th Military Zone seized weapons and munitions in Nuevo Leon state November 9th. The unit had been dispatched to the town of Cadereyta Jimenez based on an anonymous complaint. Soldiers seized six rifles, 24 weapons magazines, 594 rounds of ammunition and tactical gear. Three unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.

A Mexican Army unit with the 4th Military Zone seized drugs, munitions and vehicles at a ranch in Sonora state November 9th. The unit was on patrol on a stretch of road between Huasabas and Granados municipalities when soldiers observed suspected criminal activities near the rancho La Cruces. Soldiers seized A bag 3.9 kilograms of marijuana, 0.5026 kilograms of poppy seed, 3.1 kilograms of marijuana seeds, four rifles, three handguns, 288 rounds of ammunition, 24 vehicles, several units of farm machinery and four motorcycles and other contraband. Four unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.

An army unit with the Mexican 4th Military Zone seized a large quantity of marijuana in Sonora state November 11th. The military unit was on patrol in Baviacora municipality when suspects aboard three vehicles observed the unit, and then fled, abandoning one vehicle. Inside the vehicle soldiers found 178 packages of marijuana totalling two metric tons.

A Mexican Army unit with the 45th Military seized quantities of drug and guns in Sonora state November 8th. The military unit was on patrol in Kennedy colony of Santana municipality when contraband were seized including seven rifles, one grenade, 10 weapons magazines, 619 rounds of ammunition, personal quantities of marijuana, MX $1,920.00 (USD $147.27) in cash, USD $320.00 (MX $4171.97) in cash and one vehicle. Three unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.

An army unit with the Mexican 45th Military Zone seized quantities of drugs and guns in Sonora state November 10th. The army unit was on patrol near ejido San Lazaro, Santa Cruz when the seizure took place. Soldiers seized eight rifles, two handguns, 16 kilograms of marijuana, 21 weapons magazines, 940 rounds of ammunition and three vehicles reported as stolen. Three unidentified suspects were detained at the scene.

A Mexican Army unit with the 22nd Military Zone seized quantities of chemicals used in the production of synthetic drugs in Mexico state November 13th. The military unit was on patrol on a road between the villages of San Pedro Tenayac and Zacazonapan in Temascaltepec when it rolled up on a building with the chemicals. Soldiers secured 650 liters of caustic soda in four containers, 340 liters of acetone in several 200, 50 and 20 liter containers, 625 kilograms of sodium in 25 each bags, 240 liters of an unknown chemical substance in 12 each 20 liter containers and other contraband.

An army unit with the Mexican 22nd Military Zone destroyed a poppy plantation in Guerrero state November 12th and 13th. The plantations were found near the village of Huitzotitla in Taxco de Alarcon municipality. Soldiers destroyed 12 poppy plantations with a total ofn 23.47 hectares, one mixed poppy-marijuana plantation totalling .48 hectares and seized 10 kilograms of poppy seeds and 1.5 kilograms of marijuana seeds.

A Mexican Army unit with the 5th Military Zine seized guns in Chihuahua state November 14th. The military unit was on patrol near the village of Lazaro Cardenas in Meoqui municipality when the discovery was made. Soldiers seized 15 handguns, 11 rifles, 2,093 rounds of ammunition, 38 weapons magazines and three kevlar helmets.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

[Shabelle] A Somali immigrant who federal prosecutors say plotted to attack an Ohio shopping mall has been deported to Somalia.

Nuradin Abdi completed his prison sentence in August and was in federal custody in Louisiana while final preparations were made to return him to Somalia.

I wouldn't have wasted a lot of time on 'preparations'...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday confirmed the deportation.

Abdi's sister, Kaltun Karani, says the family is happy that Abdi is a free man.

The Justice Department accused Abdi of suggesting a plan to shoot up an unidentified Columbus shopping mall during an August 2002 meeting at a coffee shop with two friends, both of whom were later convicted of terrorism charges.

Early reports indicated the threat might also have included bombing a mall.

[An Nahar] An Iranian citizen has been charged with a plot to export military antennas from the United States in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.

An indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Washington on Tuesday charges Amin Ravan and his Iran-based company of conspiracy to defraud the United States, smuggling and violating the export act.

The Justice Department says that Ravan was tossed in the calabooseDrop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! by authorities in Malaysia last month, and the U.S. is seeking to extradite him to face trial in Washington. The department says that 55 military antennas were exported to Ravan's co-conspirators in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has been hanged.But Omar Saeed Sheikh is still alive.
The Pakistani national's plea for mercy to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee was rejected earlier this month.

He was executed in prison in Pune early on Wednesday, the Home Ministry said.

The 60-hour siege of Mumbai began on 26 November 2008. Attacks on the railway station, luxury hotels and a Jewish cultural centre claimed 166 lives. Nine gunmen were also killed.

Qasab and an accomplice carried out the assault on the main railway station, killing 52 people. He was convicted of murder and other crimes in May 2010. The Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in August.

MULTAN: The parents of a girl whose body was found buried in a field a month ago have confessed to killing her, police said on Monday. They said the parents had killed her for marrying without their consent.

They said the post-mortem examination had revealed that the girl had been strangled and the body burned before she was buried.

Police said on October 6, some residents of the area had found Sadaf Naureen's body buried in a field three days after she had been reported missing. Police were informed and the body exhumed and sent for a post-mortem examination. Police said the identification was initially based on her dress.

They said on October 3, the girl's father, Riyasat Ali, resident of TDA-134, had lodged a kidnap-murder FIR at Saddar police station in Layyah against one Muhammad Khalid, a neighbour, who was arrested by the police.

However, during the investigation, police uncovered evidence against the girl's parents. They were also arrested last week. Police said on Monday, they confessed to killing Naureen because she had married a man of her choice without their consent.

District Police Officer Shaukat Abbas confirmed that the mother had confessed to helping her husband kill Naureen. She told police that they tied her hands and feet and tried to strangle her. They said they then covered her mouth with a cloth and set her on fire by putting petrol on her.

Her father said that she had "brought shame to the family" by running away with a man. He told police that he had decided to kill Naureen the day she married.

"I have been at ease after killing... I had been in torment while she lived" he told police.

Station House Officer Malik Rab Nawaz told The Express Tribune that the culprits will be presented in a court on Tuesday (today). The victim's brothers, Qaiser Mehmood and Amir Mehmood, were also suspects in the case, he said. They will also be presented in the court along with their parents, he said. After their statements in the court, he said, Muhammad Khalid will be released.Being a MOOSELIMB and Believing in Allen is so Wonderful, I do not know why the rest of the World does not embrasse him

[Dawn] A judicial magistrate sentenced on Monday two forces of Evil to one and a half years imprisonment in illicit weapons cases.

The court found Rashid Iqbal alias Abdul Basit and Abdul Razzaq alias Qari Umer guilty of carrying unlicensed weapons in the Pirabad area in June 2011.

The judicial magistrate (west) Sadruddin Bohyo, who conducted the trial of illegal arms cases in prison, handed down 18 months each term to the accused after hearing both sides.

According to the prosecution, a team of crime investigation department officials acting on some information raided a graveyard in Pirabad and placed in durance vileDon't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! the accused after a shootout. They also seized illicit weapons and explosive substance from them.

The officials claimed that the accused were associated with Punjabi Taliban.

The accused were booked under Sections 13-D of the Arms Ordinance, 353 (criminal force to deter public servant), 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code and Section ¾ of the Explosive Substance Act. The other cases are being tried before a sessions court.

[Dawn] A girl was killed and three persons were maimed when four rockets were fired from Afghanistan at the border area in Nawagai tehsil of Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... on Monday.

Local sources said that unidentified beturbanned goons fired four rockets from across the border at Hilalkhel Charmang village in Nawagai tehsil, 40 kilometres from the agency headquarters Khar.

They said that five-year-old Fatima Bibi was killed on the spot while three persons identified as Gul Haya Bibi, Inamullah Khan and Mohammad Iqbal suffered serious injuries in the rocket attack. The injured were taken to a hospital. The condition of two injured was stated to be critical.

[Dawn] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. police has foiled a massive terrorist act on Tuesday when it jugged... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... a thirteen year old boy along with his operator and the bomb-disposal squad successfully diffused an explosive vest strapped around the teenager, reportedly trying to explode it at a fuel station, DawnNews reported.

According to initial reports, the young boy of around 13 years of age, tried to detonate a boom jacket strapped around him at a fuel station in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... capital.

Our correspondent Zahir Shah Sherazi added the jacket wallah is recognised as Bilal who belongs to Bar Qambarkhel area of Bara while his operator Jehangir, in his 20s, is stated to be a resident of Momin Town on Dalazak Road, Peshawar.

The bomb-disposal squad successfully removed the vest and the police took the boy and the operator to an unknown location for further investigation.

[Dawn] District Police Officer (DPO) Charsadda Nisar Marwat on Tuesday escaped a road side Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack but his guard and driver have been injured in the kaboom, officials said.

Marwat's vehicle was targeted with a remote control IED planted on a bicycle near Lasania Restaurant in Kulladher Bypass area on Mardan Road when he was going home from his office.

The DPO told media representatives that he was sitting in another vehicle and survived the attack but his official car had been damaged in the kaboom.

Station House Officer (SHO) Charsadda Police Station Rokhanzeb informed that around three kilograms of explosive was used in the blast and it was fixed on a bicycle. He confirmed that two people have been injured in the blast.

Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire brokered by Egypt on the eighth day of intensive Israeli fire on the Gaza Strip and militant rocket attacks out of the enclave, Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian sources said.

First word of the truce came from a Palestinian official who has knowledge of the negotiations in Cairo, where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also pursuing peace efforts.

Asked whether a ceasefire deal had been reached, an Egyptian official in Cairo said: "Yes, and Egypt will announce it."

#15
Oh, they can always find a hudna. Seems they can always find a sucker who will go for it too. I could be wrong but I'm guessing they're either running low on Fajr-5s or else getting tired of having the Iron Dome intercept them.

#2
I hope Israel does not allow this bomb blast to achieve its desired effect, which is not terror, but to incite a response the 'world' will regard as too harsh. Continue 'measured, but relentless.' Or line up a bunch of big Cats (D-9, D-11 etc.) side-to-side from the border to the beach and push the whole place into Egypt.

IDF planes on Monday targeted and eliminated another four senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. The four were eliminated as part of the IDF's efforts to dismantle the Hamas terror infrastructure in Gaza, and to restore calm and quiet to southern Israel, the army said in a statement.

The four were eliminated in a joint operation of the IDF and the Shabak, the General Security Service, the report said.

They were in a multi-storied apartment building, but were killed in a pinpointed "surgical" attack that did not hit any of the international media representatives whose offices are in the builidng.

That the loss of the four was significant to Gaza Arab terrorists was evident from the fact that Hamas denied that the IDF had eliminated the four. In a statement, Hamas said that it could not confirm that the four had been killed by the IDF, and said that they were out of communication range. out of communication range.Beautiful euphemism, who said Hamas can't be creative with the language?

The IDF hit more than 100 targets in Gaza on Tuesday, half of them rocket launching cells

The IDF hit more than 50 targets in Gaza on Tuesday evening, bringing the total number of strikes in the region Tuesday over 100.

Half of the strikes were aimed at terrorist cells that were engaged in firing rockets at Israel. Six known Hamas terrorists and one known Islamic Jihad terrorist were killed over the course of the day.

Twenty terrorists were injured in airstrikes as they attempted to fire Grad rockets.

Twenty-two percent of Tuesdays strikes hit rocket launchers that were not manned at the time. Another 8 percent of strikes targeted smuggling tunnels.

In what appears to have been Tuesdays most deadly strike, IAF planes hit a weapons convoy in Gaza City. Strikes on two vehicles carrying bombs set off secondary explosions in which six people were killed. According to local media, two of the victims were children.

A Tuesday night strike took out Islamic Jihad terrorist Yunus Shaluf, who was responsible for rocket attacks on the city of Eilat in August.

[Dawn] Israel's air force dropped leaflets across several districts of Gazoo City on Tuesday urging people to evacuate their homes "immediately" amid fears of an imminent ground invasion.

"For your own safety, you are required to immediately evacuate your homes and move toward Gazoo City centre," the one-page Arabic-language leaflet said.

The message pointed residents to specific roads they must use to move out of neighbourhoods in question which form a crescent around the southern half of the city centre.

Among the neighbourhoods named in the leaflet were Sheikh Ajlin, Tel al-Hawa, Rimal, Zeitun, Shejaiya-Turkman and Shejaiya-Jadida.

The message gave no reason for the order, but pledged that everyone who complied would be safe.

"This is a temporary confrontation. In the end, everyone will go home," the leaflet said on the seventh-day of Israel's fiercest assault on the coastal enclave in four years.

"In keeping with Israel Defence Force (army) regulations, all civilians will be kept from harm's way."

The leaflet was scattered from the air as Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,gunnies fired a rocket towards Jerusalem which landed 15 kilometres south of the city, sparking panic in the city as residents ran for cover.

[Al Ahram] An Israeli soldier was killed by rocket fire from the Gazoo Strip on Tuesday, on the seventh day of a major conflict in and around the Paleostinian enclave, a military front man said.

"I can confirm that an IDF (army) soldier was killed this morning in Eshkol regional council as a result of rocket fire," the front man told AFP, referring to an area which flanks the southern part of the Israel-Gazoo border.

His death raises to four the number of Israelis killed in Gazoo rocket fire since November 14, but only the first army fatality.

[Al Ahram] The United States on Tuesday blocked a UN Security Council statement on the Gaza conflict, saying it was "counter-productive," as attempts are made to reach a ceasefire, diplomats told AFP. The United States sent a letter to other council missions just before a Tuesday deadline to approve the Arab-proposed statement saying it was "failing to address the root causes" of the showdown between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, according to UN diplomats.

[Al Ahram] Six Paleostinians were killed Tuesday in a new wave of Israeli strikes on Gazoo, medics said, raising the Paleostinian toll from six days of bombardment to 116.

The raids ended a night of relative quiet in which no-one was killed for the first time since Israel launched its relentless aerial assault on rocket-firing gunnies in the enclave on November 14, Paleostinian medics said.

More than 920 people have been injured in the bombing campaign.

Emergency services front man Adham Abu Selmiya named the latest victims as Abdel Rahman Hamed, who died in Safina just north of Gazoo City, and Mohammed Badr who was killed in a strike on Deir al-Balah in central Gazoo.

Earlier he said another three people died in separate strikes on the northern Gazoo Strip and a fourth had been killed in an area just south of Gazoo City.

Among the latest victims were 15-year-old Yahya Mohammed Awad who was hunting birds near the beach when a missile hit the northern Sudaniya area, and two men who were killed in the nearby town of Beit Lahiya: Yahya Maaruf, a farmer who was working his land, and another man called Bilal Birawi, 20.

And in Mughraqa, just south of Gazoo City, another strike killed Mahmud Rizk al-Zahar, he said.

Overnight, the Israeli military said it attacked about 100 targets with a combination of aircraft, warships and artillery, one of which targeted "a financial institution used by Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,".

Paleostinian officials confirmed that National Islamic Bank in Gazoo City, which was set up by the Islamist movement that runs Gazoo, was severely damaged in a raid.

Hamas officials and witnesses also told AFP that strikes hit the homes of several leaders within its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Among those targeted were the homes of senior Hamas military commander Raed Aatar in the southern city of Rafah, as well as that of Abu Anza, a Qassam official in Khan Yunis, also in the south, where raids also targeted Islamic Jihad...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... offices.

Monday was the bloodiest day of the Israeli operation since it was launched on Wednesday, with 33 people killed.

During the late evening, a family of four was killed in an attack on Beit Lahiya, and two teenage brothers were killed in Rafah.

During the day, warplanes had attacked Gazoo City's Shuruq tower media centre -- the second time the building has been targeted -- killing a senior Islamic Jihad myrmidon.

Islamic Jihad sources named him as Ramez Harb and said he was a senior commander in its armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades.

After seven days of cross-border volleys between Israel and Gaza, international mediation efforts reportedly have gained a cessation of the violence, expected to take effect after nightfall.Hamas will now claim victory over the Hated Zionists™...
Palestinian officials in Gaza told reporters that Egypt brokered the deal in negotiations in Cairo. CNN is reporting that Israel denied a truce has been reached and says the deal remains in negotiation.

Israel had put a planned ground operation in Gaza "on hold" as diplomatic efforts swelled Tuesday to halt cross-border aerial strikes between Israel and Hamas militants, now in their seventh day. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left Cambodia for Israel Tuesday, where she will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She will also meet with Palestinian leaders and Egyptian officials on the trip, which the White House says will focus on U.S. interest in a peaceful outcome to the conflict.

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes described Clinton's possible impact on the negotiations. "It's not a matter of leverage, it's a matter of what is in everybody's best interests," he said. "It is not in the interests of the Palestinians and the people of Gaza for there to be an escalation of this conflict. That would bring with it a huge cost."

7:22 P.M. Israel has agreed to a truce in the Gaza Strip, but will not lift its blockade of the Palestinian territory, Israeli sources said. (Reuters)

7:09 P.M. Clinton to announce at 8 P.M. that Israel and Hamas agreed on principals for a cease-fire agreement, an Israeli diplomatic source said, noting that there will be no signed agreement, but solely an understanding between the two sides based on the principal of "quiet in exchange for quiet." Only in the second stage, negotiations via Egypt will take place regarding issues in the Gaza Strip.

Security forces have arrested a man thought to have been involved in the bomb attack on a train that killed three people and wounded 36 others in Narathiwat province on Sunday.

The officers, assigned to search for bombing suspects in Rueso district yesterday, noticed Anwa Yuni behaving suspiciously as he rode a motorcycle in the village. They decided to arrest him.

Mr Anwa is suspected of helping the attackers watch out for security officers while accomplices carried out the railway attack near a train station. A bomb, planted on the track, blew up when the train passed over it. After the explosion, terrorists militants opened fire on the disabled train.

Investigators discovered that Mr Anwa was once wanted under an arrest warrant in a case related to the emergency decree and that he is a younger brother of Abdunlo Yuni, a suspected terrorist insurgent wanted by police.

Police are searching for followers of Peing Useng, a suspected terrorist insurgent leader in Rueso, and others who may have been involved in the bombing.

Also in Rueso district, two 25 kg bombs planted on a road were dismantled by an explosive ordnance disposal team yesterday afternoon. The remote-controlled bombs had targeted troops traveling on the road. Local residents spotted the hidden devices and promptly alerted authorities.

Meanwhile, Yala municipal police have said they believe the terrorists insurgents responsible for the motorcycle bomb blast that killed one woman and wounded 33 other people on Saturday are part of the same group that carried out the March 31 Yala car bomb attack. Security camera footage and other evidence from the blast scene initially suggested the suspects were related to the Hadi Sa-a group.

Ringleader Mr Hadi is believed to have contacted Saifulo Safuru, an alleged bomb maker, prior to the car bomb attack in Yala province early this year. Other suspects are thought to be members of a terrorist rebel group led by Roki Doro.

[An Nahar] Syrian rebels announced on Tuesday the creation of a security service to "defend the Syrian revolution" in a country that has been awash with feared intelligence agencies for the past five decades.

Its objective is "to be a powerful security shield to protect the sons of the revolution from attacks, arrests and killings," and to hunt down members of the opposition who have committed abuses, according to a video statement by the rebels.

One of the men introduces himself as Colonel Ossama, agent 102, and announces the "formation of the Intelligence Services Administration of the Syrian Revolution-National Security Bureau."

"It must be one of the powerful arms of the revolution against the intelligence network of the government clique and its regional and international allies," Ossama says.

He lists the names and code numbers -- 100 to 118 -- of the 19 department heads, including a woman, Umm Aisha, in charge of logistics.

Interior and exterior intelligence branches will be established, along with branches dealing with local and foreign media. Offices will be established in the major regions of the country, and a brigade for special missions will be formed.

The goal is to "strengthen the capacity of revolutionary political and military forces by providing detailed information on the movements of the Assad occupation forces, shabiha (pro-regime militia) and agents" of the authorities.

The Intelligence Services Administration intends to "remain separate from the revolutionary forces in order to hold accountable those who have committed errors, whatever their position," Ossama added.

Bassem Jaara, director of the administration's political bureau, said that while the intelligence agency has only officially now been announced, "its agents have been working for months to prevent dozens of regime attacks designed to stoke sectarianism conflict."

Jaara, a journalist and member of the Syrian Revolution General Council in Europe, said that "hundreds of soldiers and members of the security services (who are still serving in the state apparatus) work as our informants."

[Al Ahram] Syrian opposition fighters stormed a northern air defense base near the border with Turkey on Tuesday in their latest offensive against military fortifications, opposition sources said. More than half of the sprawling compound at Sheikh Suleiman has fallen to rebels as fierce fighting raged at the site, 18 km (11 miles) from the border with Turkey and 30 km northwest of the contested city of Aleppo, rebel sources and opposition campaigners in the area said.

[Al Ahram] Fresh fighting between Kurdish Death Eaters and Syrian rebels erupted on Tuesday in the northern Syria town of Ras al-Ain, where dozens have died since the new front in Syria's complex civil war opened last week.
Elsewhere in northern Syria, several rebel battalions went on the offensive Tuesday and attacked the Sheikh Suleiman air defence battalion west of Aleppo...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The festivities came less than two days after rebels, armed with at least five tanks according to a military source, took full control of the sprawling Base 46 in the same province.

The Britannia-based Observatory said that at least 29 people had died in festivities in Ras al-Ain, near the Turkey border, over the past 24 hours.

The casualties included four Kurdish fighters, a local Kurdish official, and 24 members of the Islamist Al-Nusra Front and Gharba al-Sham rebel battalions.

The Kurdish fighters are members of the People's Defence Units, the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) which is linked to Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Activists in Ras al-Ain, located in the largely Kurdish province of Hasakeh, said that 35 Kurds were taken prisoner by the Gharba al-Sham and Al-Nusra Front, while 11 faceless myrmidons were captured.

A Ras al-Ain activist, who gave his name only as Hevidar, told AFP that tension has been high between rebels and the PYD since the faceless myrmidons took the town last week.

The festivities on Monday erupted after a Kurdish demonstration, which demanded that all rebels not from the town leave, was met with refusal.

Syria's civil war, which activists say has killed more than 39,000 people, began as an anti-regime uprising in March last year but morphed into a conflict pitting mainly Sunni rebels against Assad's regime dominated by his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

But earlier this month Kurdish residents backed by PYD Death Eaters began taking control of towns near the border with Turkey as pro-government forces pulled out without a fight, sparking tension and festivities with established rebel groups in the region.

North and northeast Syria are home to most of the country's two million-strong Kurdish minority, who have mostly stayed out of the civil war leading to angry allegations by the opposition that they are cutting deals with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadScourge of Qusayr...'s regime.

Kurds question why the rebels entered a safe area, which they say is home to thousands of refugees who fled embattled areas of the country.

Violence also erupted on Tuesday in the capital Damascus...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... when the army shelled the southern Damascus district of Hajar al-Aswad, the Observatory said, while state media reported that two mortars hit the ministry of information building.

Southeast of Damascus, regime forces shelled Daraya -- the scene of the worst massacre in the 20-month conflict -- in the latest of several attempts to storm the town over the past few days, the watchdog said.

And on the eastern outskirts of the capital, where the army has boosted its operations, three rebels were killed in shelling on the towns of Harasta and Irbin amid fierce festivities which left a fourth hard boy dead.

At least 122 people were killed nationwide on Monday in Syria -- 37 civilians, 28 soldiers and 57 rebels, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and medics in civilian and military hospitals.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.